


ten seconds to go

by myscribblingquill



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Kissing, New Year's Eve, New Year's Resolutions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 10:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17242685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myscribblingquill/pseuds/myscribblingquill
Summary: Lily has a list of resolutions to complete before the end of the year if she wants to win the annual resolutions competition she has with her friends. There's only one left on her list, and barely ten minutes until the clock strikes midnight.The only thing she has to do is number five on her list.Kiss James Potter.





	ten seconds to go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [prongsno](https://archiveofourown.org/users/prongsno/gifts).



> for this utterly gigantic prompt: _Our friends throw a new years party and just before midnight they all start revealing their old resolutions and whether or not they did them but you refuse to tell anyone what your was, only saying you hadn’t completed it yet.And then the countdown starts and you whisper “fuck it” at 8, grab me by the shirt at 6, kiss me at 4, then smile shyly and say “completed” just as it hits midnight. I bring in the new year staring gobsmacked at the love of my life then pull you close to kiss you again while the others are still busy cheering_
> 
> Did I avoiding studying all day by writing this? Yes, yes I did!

_ Ten. _

It never began as a bet but that was what it morphed into over the years. When they first started it was just Lily, Mary and Marlene sat in the kitchen of their crappy university flat and moaning about all the things they hadn’t achieved that year. After that there had been a few new people each year. Alice and Frank joined in when they all moved in together, then came Remus who brought along James and Sirius the next year. Peter, Dorcas and Emma were the newest to their little group. 

The goal had been to try and tick off as many of your resolutions as you could before the ball dropped at midnight on New Years. It wasn’t a competition. Not to start with, but with ten people and the competitive natures of some of them that was what it had become. They’d all meet up on New Year Eve and compare their lists, and write their new ones the next morning through their hangovers. The lists got worse and worse each year, and Lily was waiting for someone to announce that they’d been arrested for trying to tick off one of their resolutions.

Lily had been trying to forget about the fifth item that she’d added to her list on the last day of January. It had been the spur of the moment decision, just before Mary had snatched the list from her and skimmed down the items. She’d spent the next three days grinning at Lily, and that had been enough to make her regret writing down the resolution. There was no way that she was going to be able to complete it before the New Year dawned in under an hour.

“Dorcas, it’s your turn,” Frank threw the cake tin to her. It was an old Quality Street box that Mary had brought with her the first year they’d written down their resolutions. The tin had stuck around through the years, with the lists piling up inside on the eve of each New Year.

“I’ve done all six of mine this year,” Dorcas said, with a smug grin.

“Go on then,” 

“Not all of them,” Marlene injected with a sharp look down at Dorcas’ piece of paper that had been retrieved from the box.

“I thought we agree that nothing sexual could be put on them” James groaned. 

Sirius scoffed, and waved his list, “There go most of mine,” He winked at Mary who rolled her eyes and squeezed his hand that was wrapped tightly around her waist.

Lily kept her eyes on Dorcas as she read out her list, detailing how she’d completed each one, though she skipped number four with a smug smile at Marlene. 

“Lily, you next,” Sirius took the box out of Dorcas’ hands and attempted to place it in hers. Lily took a step back, bumping into James who was lounging against the table that had been pushed up against the wall. Her fingers grazed against his knee, his leg stiffened and Lily quickly pulled her hand away.

“You touched the box, you know the rules,” Lily pointed at the box in Sirius’ hand. 

Part of the reason for using the tin was to ensure that everyone else shut up when they were going through their resolutions. There had been numerous arguments in the first few years about who had lost, and who had won. Getting a large group of people to stop talking when they’re all slightly buzzed was almost impossible until Mary had started passing around the tin. It didn’t always work but it was better than them all shouting over each other. 

“Fine,” Sirius smiled, and took a step back towards Mary. “Considering I won last year,” His gaze dropped to Mary for a moment, who had pressed herself against him, before he pulled his list out of his pocket. Lily fought against rolling her eyes because she was happy to see her best friend happy -- not that she’d let Sirius know that she approved -- it was difficult to watch them being disgustingly in love all the time.

“This is why we have the no sexual resolutions rule,” James whispered in her ear. Lily felt a shiver run up her spine. To busy trying not to thinking about James, and the last resolution on her list, Lily found his chest pressed up to her back. She tried to control her breathing so he wouldn’t notice that she’d started sweating from being so close to him, as her thoughts devolved into how it would feel for his arms to wrap themselves around her waist.

“Yeah,” Lily turned around to face him and discovered that it was worse to be this close to him when she could see him. His soft smile, with slightly crinkled eyes and a fond expression made her want to take a step closer to him. She had been planning to add something to end of her quiet ‘yeah’ but she found that words were too complicated when James was so close.

“Did you manage to do all yours?”

“Not yet,”

 

_ Nine. _

She’s the last one to read out her list, and there are only ten more minutes until midnight strikes. Lily knows that she not going to be able to complete the last item on her list but that doesn’t stop her from staring at it. 

_ Kiss James Potter. _

It was utterly ridiculous when she wrote it eleven months. If anyone saw her list she’d die of mortification, although Mary had seen it only seconds after she’d wrote it. She was the only one who knew, and to her credit Mary never explicitly said anything regarding the resolution throughout the whole year. There had been a few times when she’d given Lily a gentle push in James’ direction. If it had been anyone else then Lily would have glared and refused to move but Mary had been trying to nudge them together for years and Lily had become accustomed to ignore it.

“Lil, you’ll have to read it out eventually,” Mary said.

Lily tried to ignore her and turned her attention to James who was working his way through his list. He always had an absurdly long list, most of which he managed to cross off in ways that most people would never think of. Half of his were coordinated with Remus, and Peter’s, and normally culminated in pranks that the others were all dragged in to. 

“I’m not saying that outloud,” Lily said in a low whisper. When the time came for her to read her list she was going to be leaving off the last resolution. If it was written in pencil then she would have got rid of it moments after she wrote it. But it was still there in slightly fade pen.

_ Kiss James Potter. _

The problem remained the Lily wasn’t even sure if she still wanted to kiss him. They’d become a lot closer over the past year. Their friendship had developed from only seeing each other when there were others around to something that Lily cherished, and certainly wasn’t willing to change for the sake of a silly resolution. 

There was something about his mouth that she couldn’t help watching. The way he spoke, too energetic most of the time, with the words spilling out of him at a breakneck pace when he was excited or slightly slower when he was thinking more about what he said. Lily had developed a habit of watching his mouth when he spoke, the corner of his lips quirked up and Lily felt herself smile in response. She hadn’t noticed that it was had happened again until she bit down on her lip to stop the smile from spreading across her face in a way that would make Mary give her that knowing smile.

“Last one,” James smiled, and licked his lips, “Stop wanting about things I can’t have,” His smile dropped for an instant, Lily wondered why but then it was back with a little reserve behind it. “I guess I was a bit ambitious,” His smile turned a little sheepish when Lily met his eyes. 

“It’s not your fault I’m taken,” Sirius joked, and Lily dropped her gaze from James to roll her eyes at Sirius.

“Go on then Evans,” James gave her a wide grin and for a moment Lily found it a little hard to breath or even think when he smiled at her like that.

That was why she didn’t notice the tin that he threw in her direction until it collide with her knee.

“Oh shit,” The tin clanged onto the floor. Lily rubbed her knee and stretched out a hand towards the tin but another hand picked it up first.

James knelt down on the floor and offered her the tin with a wide-eyed apologetic look. “Lily, I’m so sorry,”

“It’s fine,” Lily took the tin from him and stretched out her leg. The momentary pain had gone but the stomach churning she felt around James was back. He didn’t return to where he’d been standing on the opposite side of the room. He stood to her left, where if he looked down at the right angle, he could see the list that Lily was unfolding.

“Come on Lil,” Marlene raised her glass towards the clock, “You’ve got five minutes,”

“Alright,” She angled herself towards James so he could only see the front of her list, and not the writing, “Luckily none of mine involved avoiding injuries,”

Lily read out the list as quickly as she could. Number one, read more books, not exactly completed but she’d actually managed to finish most of the books she’d started that year rather than leaving them on a pile next to her bed. Two was to get more regular haircuts, and that had resulted in her hair growing most of the way down her back.

Three was harder to explain. It had been intended to help her get her life back on track, rather than spending her time worrying that her degree was going to waste sat in her cupboard.  _ Fix my life _ was rather vague but Lily felt that she’d made some progress after starting a new job a few months ago. She took a shallow breath before reading out number four, avoiding to look at the small sentence written under it. 

“Four, bake better cakes than Dorcas,” Lily read out with a grin at her friend. That one had not been completed. She’d tried but Dorcas hid her recipe book everytime she left her flat, and Lily really couldn’t compete when Dorcas had a culinary arts degree.

“Never,” Dorcas declared with a grin.

“Next year I’ll find that recipe book,” Lily teased and fold the piece of paper in two, “That’s all of them,”

She’d hadn’t been particularly inventive last year. It had been difficult enough coming up with the four resolutions that she’d read out when the only thing she could think about was what James’ lips felt like.

Mary gave a small cough and Lily shook her head slightly when her eyes slide from her to James. Sirius followed their silent conversation, a small frown on his face but he gave a small grin when he saw the blush start to creep up Lily’s neck. Lily doubted that Mary told him her resolution but he had likely figured out the reason for her blush.

“Seems that neither of us are going to win this year,” Lily had almost forgotten that James was stood next to her, she was too distracted by Mary. He was tall enough that she had to crane her neck a little to look him in the eyes and she replied with a weak “Yeah,”

 

_ Eight. _

11:58. Two minutes left until the hour chimed. Lily was still painfully aware of James stood next to her. He’d disappeared for a moment and returned with two glasses, one of which he’d handed to her. When Big Ben struck midnight on the TV, they would be toasting and kissing all around the room. 

It occured to Lily that standing next to James when the New Year started was a bad way to start her year. She’d likely get a kiss on the cheek from him, a blunt reminder of her failed resolution. 

“Got any resolutions read for next year's contest?” James took a small sip of his champagne.

“Not yet,” Lily contemplated feigning illness so she could get away from James before midnight. She could escape to the bathroom, but then James would likely follow her to check she was okay and then she’d end up ruining his New Year as well as her own. It was safer to stay where she was and hope that James didn’t hang around too long after midnight.

“What about you? Planning any more pranks?” She asked.

“Not pranks, but I’ve got a few things in mind,” James smiled down at her, and Lily felt her stomach churning increase. At this rate she wouldn’t have to fake feeling sick.

Lily didn’t want to avoid James. She wanted to hug him as the New Year broke, and find out about all his resolutions. She wished that she hadn’t wrote down her last resolution. It was stuck spinning around her head. Lily looked at James and all she could think about was kissing him. It was her own fault for writing it down. Before her feelings had been manageable because she’d been able to deny them. But putting them into words,  _ Kiss James Potter _ , made it real and it gave her mind something to latch on to.

_ Kiss James Potter. _

If she did ever decide to do it, it would likely be the best few seconds of her life before the shock of what she’d done occured. It might be worth it, those few seconds of having James’ lips against hers for the loss of friendship, or perhaps maybe, something else that could come from kissing him. Lily wanted to hope that what she had been feeling for the past year wasn’t so unrequited as she thought it was.

There had been a few moments where she had felt that perhaps James felt something vaguely romantic for her. More than a few moments if she was honest. The past few months there had been a moment almost once a week. From numerous times that they’d fallen asleep together on his slightly grubby sofa, to the ice cream he’d turned up with when she’d came down with the flu. 

“James,” 

“Yeah, Lil?” He gave her a soft smile, licked his lips and Lily knew she was done for. She wasn’t going to make it to the New Year without kissing James.

“Fuck it,”

  
  


_ Seven. _

“The New Year hasn’t started yet,” James grinned, “It can’t be that bad,”

“I wasn’t -” Lily cut off her sentence as everyone around her started to count down. There were thirty seconds left to midnight, and she still hadn’t kissed James. There was nothing to stop her now, only the space between them and the horribly loud beating of her heart.

Lily turned towards James and placed her glass down on the closest flat surface.

 

_ Six. _

James wasn’t in the best position for her to kiss him. His shoulder bumped her chest, and Lily let out a small exasperated sigh. She pushed his shoulder away from her, and he spun around to face her. 

His eyes were wide with surprise. Lily couldn’t keep her gaze from drifting down to his lips. They looked slightly wet from the champagne that he’d been slowly sipping. 

Even though they’d been close together all evening it was the first time that Lily paid any attention to what he was wearing. A dark blue shirt that looked a tad too small for him. The first few buttons were undone, and one of the lower ones had been sewn back on with white thread. If Lily had time she would have teased him about it but she had a resolution to complete and less than ten seconds to do so

James furrowed his brow as she twisted her hands into the fabric of his shirt. “Lily, what-”

 

_ Five. _

“I had a fifth resolution,” She interrupted him. Her stomach felt like it had a whole swarm of butterflies trying to escape but there was no turning back. 

She’d already got this far. Staring at James lips while she clutched his shirt was more likely to ruin their friendship than kissing him.

Lily took a breath. She tried to remember if she’d brushed her teeth before leaving home.

 

_ Four _ .

Lily felt James give a small gasp as she rose on to her tiptoes and pressed their lips together. She had only intended it to be a small peck on the lips but when her lips met his Lily dug her hand into her shirt and found she couldn’t pull away. His shirt was going to be terribly crumpled when she let go.

He kissed her back, pulling her closer with a hand on her back and dipping his head towards Lily.

She could taste the champagne on his lips. Kissing James Potter, Lily decided, was the only way she wanted to spend the whole of the next year. Any other resolution didn’t matter so long as she got to kiss James again.

“Oh my god,” The exclamation drew Lily out of the bubble she’d been in with James. 

His hand on her back stopped her from abruptly leaving the room. 

 

_ Three. _

His shirt was still twisted into her hand and Lily slowly let go of the fabric. She ran a hand over it in an attempt to remove some of the creases she had caused. The motion of smooth of his shirt inadvertently meant that Lily ran her hand down James’ chest. Lily felt her throat dry up as her hand stilled on his sternum.

James hadn’t moved since Lily sank back down on to her feet. His chest suddenly tensed and Lily felt a small wave of panic start to creep over her. He had kissed her back but he hadn’t said anything. 

His throat moved as he swallowed and then lower his gaze to meet Lily’s. She tried not to be too distracted by his throat, as she swallowed again and his adam's apple moved. 

James’ neck was so much closer than his lips. If she got to kiss him again she was determined to find out what it was like to kiss his neck. 

That could be her new resolution.  _ Kiss James Potter's’ neck. _ Providing that he wanted her to kiss him again.

“Lily,” He said in a breathy voice that sounded more like a moan. 

Lily wondered what he’d sound like that if she kissed his neck.

 

_ Two. _

“I erm, had a resolution to complete,” 

Lily could feel the piece of paper stuffed into her pocket where she’d hidden it. The countdown around them was still going on. Their kiss had barely been three seconds, and now there were only two more until the clock struck midnight. Lily twisted in James’ arm that was still wrapped around her so she could see the TV. Mary caught her eye with a huge grin, and Dorcas gave her a thumbs up. 

The last two seconds of the year were almost over. Lily had kissed James before midnight.

 

_ One _ .

Big Ben struck midnight. The fireworks on the river exploded in a cascade of colour. They kept going to what felt like hours before  _ Aud Lang Syne _ started playing through the speakers and everyone mumbled along to the music. 

James still had his arm around Lily’s waist and he wasn’t singing along. He was normally one of the more rowdy singers and he actually knew the words.

“Evans did you break Prongs?” Sirius shouted over the singing. Lily felt a blush quickly rise over her cheeks but she still managed to give Sirius a glare before he went back to kissing Mary.

Lily twisted around again so that she was facing James, their chests pressed together as he still refused to let go of her. He had his champagne glass clenched in his hand. The rim of the glass rest lightly against Lily’s arm. The cool glass on her skin was a slight relief from the heat that had been steadily spread throughout her body.

“Lily, what resolution?” James asked. His voice was a little husky, his pupils were blown and Lily could feel the nervousness radiating off him.

She dropped her gaze and tried to contain her grin before looking back up at him. 

“Kiss James Potter,”

“Oh,” He gulped, “I was one of your resolutions?”

“Yes,”

“And you waited till the last possible moment because?”

“I didn’t think I’d actually do it,”

“Oh,”

“I’ve got a new one for this year,” She grinned up at him, “Kiss James Potters’ neck,”

“Bloody hell, there go my resolutions for the year,” James sighed. Lily cocked her head and he gave a slight shake of his head, “Stop wanting things I can’t have,”

“James,” Lily said.

“Things being you,” James bit his lip and Lily wanted to kiss him again. 

All of her new resolutions were going to be about James Potter. Now that she’d kissed him once she could imagine a hundred other things that she also wanted to do.

“James,” Lily wrapped her hands around his neck. She gave a gentle tug. He lowered his face towards her till his forehead rested on hers. Lily could feel his breath on her lips.

“Oh,”

“Since I gave you a pre-New Years kiss, I think you should be the one giving me a New Years kiss,” 

James put his champagne glass down next to Lily’s. His hand on her back pulled her somehow closer while his other hand brushed her cheek.

“Do you think the resolutions count if we complete them before writing them down?”

“Absolutely, I’m not waiting till the morning to complete mine,”

James grinned at her. Lily felt her feet lift slightly off the floor as James’ arm tightened around her waist pulling her upwards. He kissed her and Lily forgot all about resolutions and focused on the only important thing at that moment. Kissing James Potter. 

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Find me on tumblr [@willsdarcy](https://willsdarcy.tumblr.com)


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